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Slashback tonight with another word on eInk's color displays for portable computing, a temporarily happy ending for Keith Henson; a cool online-movie update, and a slight return to the subject of carpal tunnel syndrome.

But strenuous exercise might not be the answer ... Amigan writes: " Foxnews.com is reporting another story, based on a study done by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN that significantly cuts in to the number of people claiming to be Carpal Tunnel suffers."

Of course, neither this nor the Canadian study mentioned shortly ago say that people don't suffer from true carpal tunnel afflictions -- only that it may be a widely mis-diagnosed condition.

Please drop quarters into your bedside cable modemkzinti writes: "Over two years ago CmdrTaco posted a story about a video clip archive and an animated short called 'Tripping the Rift' by Chris Moeller of 'King of the Hill.' TTR is a bawdy parody of popular science fiction like Star Trek and Star Wars, and is one of the funniest things you'll ever see. Alas, the clip available in 1999 from the archive (which has since shut down) was small and of poor quality. I recently decided to see if I could find a better quality copy on the net somewhere and struck gold at, wouldn't you know it, trippingtherift.com. Not only does this site have a newly posted, high-quality MPEG edition of TTR, but it also has a couple of DivX versions and links to Quicktime and other versions of TTR. The best news is that a second episode of TTR has been produced and should be available for download 'shortly.'
Trip Now!"

Lookin' clever.
Regarding Chris DiBona's walk through the recent Society for Information Display expo, SID Attendee writes: "Your SID correspondent missed one of the coolest demos, from eInk. These displays use charged particles with black & white pigments on opposing ends to form a pure reflective display. The contrast and resolution was great, easily like a newspaper. They consume zero power when the display is static, and can be made incredibly thin (less than 1mm). This could be the thing that makes ebooks/webpads for real. Color is on the horizon (they had a very crude color demo at the show).

PS - I wasn't that impressed with the OLEDs - many of the LCD displays outperformed them, and seem to have fewer lifespan issues."

Thanks for the first-hand report.

6 points for Canada!
iamklerck writes: "Apparently the Scientology critic who was to go on trial for interfering with a religion has been granted "refugee" status in Canada. I wish him luck, as I'm sure we all do. Perhaps some day he'll be able to return to the U.S. without having his rights violated."

And I can't help wondering whether Canada might not have had room for one more individual who is facing genuine danger for his private beliefs instead of a Usenet troll skipping out on a misdemeanor charge.

Jane, you ignorant slut. Take even a cursory glance at Scientology's past treatment of its critics and you will see that anyone who publicly opposes it and takes time to protest against it is the very fucking definition of "one more individual who is facing genuine danger for his private beliefs".

Pardon the subject, and i know the slashdot-hypocrite topic is really overdone, but cheering a scientology critic on while hyping a movie that stars a scientology drone? (RE: All the people in the last Katz thread defending Swordfish.)
Not only is it a crap movie about a ÃfÂ¼berhacker, but it promotes the career of a member of a terrorist organization only known to be a true "religion" in the United States, and that
because they infiltrated the IRS.

Again, pardon the venom, but I do not want to see *any* victories to Scientology, not even at the box office. Thank you for your time.

This comment reminds me of the hindus in India who think Catholics are cannibals because in the sacrament of Holy Communion you "eat the Body of Christ". [This used to be a widespread belief many years ago, and you still find it out in the less educated areas in India.]

And how are they wrong? The Catholic idea of transubstantiation [dictionary.com] is not some kind of "symbol" like what it got changed to in most other Christian religions; it is that the wine and bread actually turn into the blood and body of Christ through a miracle. That would make them cannibals.

You suspect a hoax? Why do you suspect a hoax? because you suspect a hoax? No, you need to provide evidence and reasons. But you haven't. As to why you've had your garabage post upgraded, that might be because scientologists have in fact infiltrated the Slashdot moderation system.

Yes. But the term "media" is often used to represent the media industry or the products of that industry. In that sense, "media" is singular, the same way "flock" or (perhaps more accurately;) "herd" is singular.

It depends on what you're referring to... if you want to refer to the individual media rather than the overall "media" group, you would use "are". Else, you'd use "is".

For instance, "Those are proud people" means that, taken individually, each person in the group you're referring to is proud. "That is a proud people" means the nation or ethnic group in question is, taken as a whole, proud. That is, the majority of the people are proud, but any given individual in the group may or may not be proud.

Same deal with media. (This doesn't fly with most plurals, incidentally... just those which double [no pun intended] as mass names.)

Well, the good news is CTS is a "syndrome", which just means "collection symptoms that go together frequently". So no matter what caused the symptoms, if they're all extant simultaneously and all go away simultaneously, then by definition it sure as hell was CTS.:)

Let's see the Mayo clinic did one study, the controls weren't described nor were the methods described and the subjects seemingly were just observed doing their normal jobs so there was no actual experimental plan. Even with that piece of shit methodology 1 in 9 had symptoms and 1 in 25 had severe clinical symptoms. Holy moly does anyone see anything wrong with this???

And oh yeah FOX news is the mouthpiece of the Republican Party - no too much of an agenda there.

I was feeling a bit of pain in my shoulders from typing and mousing despite taking care to have 'good posture'. A friend reccomended external rotator exercises (rotator cuff). Do a search on it, you'll find the exercises. Easy to do with light weights, and it has made a big difference.

It works just great over the cable modem at work (but, ah, this isn't the censored version so you probably don't want to watch it someplace where you might attract an audience--Terry Farrell makes lots of "noises" at the end).

I hear that the White House staffers are trying to teach him, so he'll be able to see what those funny squiggles are on his honorary doctorate [nd.edu] -- a sad day for universities everywhere, that was...

You have a right to criticize religion; it falls under Free Speech. California's judges really should've looked into that fact.

There's no such thing as freedom in the People's Republic of California anymore. (I live "next door" to them in Nevada; they're constantly sending their loose screws our way to fsck up this state as badly as they've done their own.)

2. No Pets. Scientologists like to release the
"Thetans" in Pets. By killing them.

This comment reminds me of the hindus in India who think
Catholics are cannibals because in the sacrament of Holy
Communion you "eat the Body of Christ". [This used to be a
widespread belief many years ago, and you still find it out in
the less educated areas in India.]

The main criticism here is plain technique. FUD is best reserved
for use by the Microsofties, not someone who is supposed to be
intelligent.

You've misunderstood. There's no Scientologist religious
sacrament involving pets. It's just that one of their standard
intimidation techiniques is to kill the pets of those who they
view as enemies. This is derived from Hubbard's "Fair Game"
doctrine, which states that "Suppressive Persons" (enemies of the
CoS) are "Fair Game" for certain tactics. From hour.ca [www.hour.ca]:

In 1967, Hubbard issued the fair-game policy, which said that
opponents "may be deprived of property or injured by any means,
by any Scientologist. He may be tricked, sued, lied to, or
destroyed utterly."

You can find a couple of reference to Scientologists attacking
the pets of their opponents here [xenu.net]
(search for "pets", it's near the bottom of the page) and
here [xenu.net]
(Search for "Duke"). You can probably find more by digging around
on google or xenu.net.
--
"HORSE."

I use a computer quite often and have had no probles with carpal tunnel. Yes its been for many years. i think its as with anything, bad if it is overdone, but ergonometry is not the answer supprisingly. I believe it lies within the systems and application. While working, i find that i spend more time doing repetitious motions with trying to fix software (gAOL, MSFT). Now to my linux side, i barely use linux, and everything i do under windows, (except games) is done under linux as well. Did i say everything? No, not quite. I hate windows with a passion but i still use it for one reason, the software. I enjoy playing around with new toys, audio programs, niftly little toolz, and things, more than i actually enjoy getting work done. The overboard computer usage by a company is the problem. Can it be cut in half, yes. Do i suggest only linux, why not? If there is a program that exists on linux, or can be made for it, use it instead of the windows alternative. Sure, your employees will have less down time, and less time messing around if they set it up right. Having limits is what computer industry people have said "NO" to for a long time. Try using some limits when working on a machine, not duration. The root comes first, the benefits follow.

This short actually made it onto the SciFi Channel's "Exposure" shorts thingy some months ago. Of course, it was edited for content a bit (naked clown's girlfriend and things were edited over). But full props to them for getting it out there.

Nope - Keith was tried on 2 charges of "misdemenour terrorism" (for joking on the 'net about "Tom Cruise Missiles") and one of "interfering with a religion" (for exercising his 1st ammendment rights by picketing their compound in the desert)

In 1967, Hubbard issued the fair-game policy, which said that opponents "may be deprived of property or injured by any means, by any Scientologist. He may be tricked, sued, lied to, or destroyed utterly."

Interesting. A quote of a quote of a quote. How accurate can this possibly be?
In addition, from what I have read, there is no proof that Judge Swearinger's dog's drowning was related to the case he was currently on. Nor is there proof that his tires being slashed is related to the case he was currently on. Judges are involved in hundreds or thousands of cases, and almost certainly make enemies. There is nothing to tie these incidents together, and no proof that it was remotely related. There is also no reason to think that this wasn't done by an antagonist in order to get someone blamed.
In addition, even if it were true, ONE incident does not make something "standard technique".
Sure sounds like FUD to me.
The only other incident I can find, the Youngs, simply states:

...someone stole one of my dogs, beat it and dumped it several miles north of my home. The dog was found, blood dripping from its head and mouth, struggling to make it back home...

The illogic of this is astounding. A dog was missing, so 'someone stole it'. He was injured, possibly by a vehicle or another animal, so 'he was beaten.' This story involves quite a few assumptions. If they had had ANY kind of proof, they could have sued. The law is clear regarding cruelty to animals, is it not?

Oh so I get it, truth is subjective and if a Scientologist decides to come and destroy you or your family or cause you physical harm thats okay because its their philosophy and thats what they believe. Come on! You would fight them to the full extent of the law because they are wrong to do that.

I don't know if any of you noticed this, but the voice of Choad was Stephen Root. [imdb.com] He was Mr James in the TV Show News Radio. He also played Milton in the underrated Office Space. Just kinda interesting....

I'm surprised to see the comment that the OLED displays were less than impressive... is this just unrealistic expectations (LCDs are very mature, OLEDs are still in diapers) or a sign that LCDs may be around longer than everybody wants?

Just got my GameBoy Advance today, and as with everybody else I'm disappointed with the very dim screen. I figure Nintendo will probably release an OLED version in a few years, which would be great -- *if* these problems with OLEDs get worked out.

Their organization was convicted many times in Canada, of slander, infiltrating government agencies, you name it. They are a little woozy up there. People aren't as cowed by them up there. No doubt they have plants worming their careers through useful places right now, but they don't have the critical mass they have here in the U.S in the State Department and various D.A. offices and police departments.

I think the guy should have been let off with a stern lecture, but I can't say I wish him a ton of luck. My sympathies are with people trying to make the world a better place; not with the ones who are looking to see how close to the edge of legality they can come with their death threats. And I can't help wondering whether Canada might not have had room for one more individual who is facing genuine danger for his private beliefs instead of a Usenet troll skipping out on a misdemeanor charge.

KH's death threat was a "Tom Cruise Missile" joke, and the phrase "Destroy them utterly." "Destroy them utterly" was a direct quote from L Ron Hubbard, referring to dealing with enemies of his cult. KH has spent the last several years of his life trying to make the world a better place by exposing a vicious, money-grubbing cult.

No, I'm not a Scientologist. I've never met one and couldn't care less about them either way.

Maybe you should care - the COS is as famous as Cantor and Seigel for making the net a worse place. They started with an attempted rmgroup to silence their critics. It looks as if they then escalated to cancels of critic's posts, then auto-generated spam floods, cross-posts to Nazi hate groups, and now seem to be trying child porn floods of alt.religion.scientology (probably to later claim it is a haven for pedophiles.) Fear those that try to drown the free exchange of ideas.

There's an excellent book called "The Seven Minute Rotator Cuff Solution." After a rotator cuff tear, I got only fair results from physical therapy. The exercises in that book helped a lot, and by following their recommendations I've also avoided further problems.

He won't be able to visit used bookstores, as Scientologists will undoubtedly recognize him from LRH's next book (from the grave) "The Enemy".

Now this is untrue. Don't you know that Co$ books don't get to used bookstores? They're all returned directly to the publisher (Bride Publications, another Co$ holding) to be redistributed, so that they can keep them as high on the bestsellers list as possible.

And, just to prevent the dissent, I have experienced this myself. I've worked at a number of bookstores, from large chains to single-storefront independents and at each of them seen obviously used books arrive on the truck, and, in some cases, actually arrive with price tags from other bookstores still attached. And this is in North Carolina, which is hardly a hotbed of Co$ activity.

Doctors will often mis-diagnose something, give you treatment, then declare you cured.

If they diagnose CTS, give you some exercise, drugs, ergonomics, and it goes away then it's CTS. But, it could be something else that responded to the treatment. Doctors apply a scientific method to diagnosis as one would apply with programming. They don't develop a theory and test the theory for that diagnosis. Doctors will throw multiple treatments at a problem, and if it solves that problem they declare the diagnosis correct. Doctors generally do not perform the testing and analysis to make a definitive diagnosis.

Here is an idea that is better than eInk. By better I mean cheaper and so simple you can implement it right now. Create a tiny projector that is able to project images to a flat white sheet of paper. After use the sheet of paper can be folded up. The size of the computer powering the projector can be tiny.

6 points for Canada! iamklerck writes: "Apparently the Scientology critic who was to go on trial for interfering with a religion has been granted "refugee" status in Canada. I wish him luck, as I'm sure we all do. Perhaps some day he'll be able to return to the U.S. without having his rights violated."

Somebody's got their facts backwards. The only time I've ever heard of somebody being arrested for "Interfering with Religion" it was in Canada. The "culprit" was James Randi [randi.org], before his "Amazing Randi" days. He made the mistake of publically accusing a faith healer of fraud. Such a law would not stand up in the U.S Courts, and I suspect it would no longer stand up in the Canadian courts either.

Given the amount of self-promotion Keith Henson indulges in, I suspect a hoax.

Just to establish my credentials as a non-Scientologist: L. Ron Hubbard was a Hack!

2. No Pets. Scientologists like to release the "Thetans" in Pets. By killing them.

This comment reminds me of the hindus in India who think Catholics are cannibals because in the sacrament of Holy Communion you "eat the Body of Christ". [This used to be a widespread belief many years ago, and you still find it out in the less educated areas in India.]

The main criticism here is plain technique. FUD is best reserved for use by the Microsofties, not someone who is supposed to be intelligent.

I really dislike seeing FUD used by folks. Just a pet peeve. I greatly admire intelligent argument based on issues.

Philosophy is an Operating dSystem for the Mind. You have your OS, I have Mine. They have theirs. When was the last time you even looked at your own source code? For most people, it is spaghettifried code like you would never imagine. Some modules never fire up correctly.

(man - i got to get a job. Let's Play Quake Instead! ok..)

They apparently succeed just because they have some kind of system for inspecting code. Just something, somehow. So they say in their own way. [They haven't gone away in fifty years, and they seems to be growing.]

Never mind if you would never agree to the design principals, or whatever. or are horrifried by what they do. If you want to rant and rave and spit blood, fine.

You probably know how to pull apart a piece of source code and criticise it from a design viewpoint. You can use that here in this context.

Saying "MS code sucks" is a lame statement. Being able to say how and why under what functionality is far more useful. Now applying that to the Operating System of the Mind could be useful.

You could critique various systems usefully, instead of FUDding around. You could what functionality would be useful, and which should be dropped.

Some years ago, I came across a book called "Faces of The Enemy" It is an excellent book, and was also a nova special of PBS back in the 80s. I have a tape of the show and I own the book.

Basically it goes into the profound similarity between in cultural situations where group X says Group Y is horrible, evil, etc. It is a revelation to recognize it as a profound group psychosis. It has nothing to do with politics or religion in the common sense of the word. It is a revelation to see it in oneself and to overcome it.

I have lived over seas, and I have also seen it in the middle east. The fact of the hate itself I consider a psychosis. Two psychotics do not make either side a saint.

I have seen a man reading the bible, interjecting racist remarks into the plain text, convinced that what he was saying was in fact in the text. When it wasn't there at all.

Fundamentally, I throw out and throw away anything that walks down the road of foam at the mouth these guys or those guys or them guys over there are PURE evil.

One of the things that Wiesenthall [wiesenthal.com] (a WWII deathcamp survivor and famed Nazi hunter) said about the Nazis was the sheer shock that he discovered that they were human, too. Simply human. That there was no more monster there then there was in anyone else.

All too much of this takes the witch hunt attitude of "we will search for evidence of evil"; it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, and down the toilet you go. I have seen some of the stuff you are talking about, and the wacko gleam in the eye obsession is there in an awful lot of the writing.

I am sorry. I reject that obsession with hate and the urge to detroy. I have lost family due to such hate (I am not jewish)

I may despise MS, for example, for their software and marketing practices. But ultimately, they too are human.

Go ahead. Hate them. Hate them. Hate them more thoroughly, despise them as completely as possible, until there is no room in your soul for anything else. Forever.

hmmmm.... Maybe Slashdot needs to relocate to Canada so we don't have to worry about posts getting yanked.

The fact that Henson has "won" isn't really true YET. Just remember, that just because he's in Canada, it doesn't mean he's untouchable. So, for as long as it takes for this CULT to implode, he'll have to abide by the following rules...

1. NO Personality tests. Period.
2. No Pets. Scientologists like to release the "Thetans" in Pets. By killing them.
3. He won't be able to visit used bookstores, as Scientologists will undoubtedly recognize him from LRH's next book (from the grave) "The Enemy".
4. He'll have to deal with getting picketed.
5. He'll have to explain to his neighbors that NO, He's not a pedophile, and a rapist, and involved with the Occult. (anymore)

However, he should be able to Drive, buy bathing products, eat normally, AND live in a *gasp* house. All ideas that a normal scientologist loses when one of those videos SUCKS the INTELLIGENCE right out of em...

I think I killed a xenu once... I threw his familiar out the window, and he couldn't survive the system shock. That was a LONG time ago though.

See, FUD is used when you speak an "untruth" about something or someone. Or, you want a desired result that is somehow beneficial to you. Or, when you are worried that the truth about yourself may be harmful. This isn't "untruth". This isn't "made up". This is actually a fairly delicate way of stating that:

Scientology uses tactics such as stalking, hiring investigators to dig up dirt on you, harrassment (picketing), disruption of your daily routine, physical assault, threats, lies, spreading rumors about you (such as a letter to your neighbors stating your a pedophile, convicted rapist, etc.) threatened litigation, and yes, even the assault and battery of your animal companion to the point of death. They even cover up deaths to avoid court prosecution.

www.videorotten.com, or www.xenu.net

This is not FUD. These are all documented statements made by people who, for one reason or another, were labeled as "enemies" of Scientology, and either spoke out about it, or threatened to.

These people had their lives ruined, lost loved ones, were alienated from their families, and all kinds of other nifty, nasty things.

LRH (L. Ron Hubbard for the uninitiated) has been quoted by his peers on COUNTLESS occasions that "the best way to make money was to start a religion".
And "If they are enemies, do not stop until they are destroyed utterly."
and "Litigation does not have to succeed, it only has to harrass to be effective."

And countless other footbazooka quotes that can be read at

www.xenu.net

Check it out. Take a bit of time.

You'll see that Scientology has left a paper trail every bit as damning as the "Halloween Documents" presented on the internet by Microsoft. It's NOT FUD. It's a statement of fact.

These people aren't nice. They aren't your friends. They don't warrant defense. The only thing they deserve is to be pitied, and ignored.

They should compare computer users to the Amish (or some other group of total non-computer users) if they want a fair study.

CTS (and other such hand injuries) are not only caused by typing, there are other professions too. Generally, people who work a lot with their hands. Can't think of any common ones right now though. Piano playing comes to mind, but thats not too common.

Keith hasn't gotten refugee status in Canada yet. He's been let out of jail, and his application for refugee status has been accepted. That means Canada's immigration authorities accepted some papers from Keith's lawyers and said they'd think about it. What happens next is a bunch of investigation, hearings, etc. that can take up to two years, though Keith hopes to make things go faster than that.

This is as good an immediate outcome as could be hoped for. Some alternatives were that he could have been kept in jail longer, or booted back across the border to the US.
For more info and updates, see here [operatingthetan.com].

Maybe you should care - the COS is as famous as Cantor and Seigel for making the net a worse place. They started with an attempted rmgroup to silence their critics. It looks as if they then escalated to cancels of critic's posts, then auto-generated spam floods, cross-posts to Nazi hate groups, and now seem to be trying child porn floods of alt.religion.scientology (probably to later claim it is a haven for pedophiles.) Fear those that try to drown the free exchange of ideas.

The KP spam attack on a.r.s. is a red herring. It's been hitting nanau and a.h.m just as hard.

It's not scientologists and it's not the owner of the domain being spammed that's doing this. It's just the same kiddies who put Steve Gibson offline.

What's really worrying about that attack is that it's a covergence of a remote trojan (on @home and uswest broadband users) and Hipcrime's NewsAgent, a newsgroup flooding program. Broadband providers abuse desks are either non-existant or understaffed, compounding the problem.

Yet another Carpal write-up at http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/1728.81330
"Office workers can 'breathe a sigh of relief,' according to a Mayo Clinic researcher. Contrary to popular belief, a new study shows that using a computer doesn't appear to increase the risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome"

They said they studied people who type on a keyboard 7 hours a day and found they had no higher instance of CTS than the general population. Since the general population (even the kid pumping gas at the corner Exxon) uses a computer at work these days, what's the control group? When they test drugs, the control group gets nothing but a placebo, not the test drug half the day and a placebo the other half. They should compare computer users to the Amish (or some other group of total non-computer users) if they want a fair study.

OK. So maybe not everybody was suffering from CTS, but many were obviously suffering from similar symptoms as a result of the repetitive stress of typing. Who cares whether it was CTS or some other disorder. It still hurts! I suffered from some problems that were actually related to the positioning of my shoulders. After an ergonomics expert recognized the problem, I made changes to my sitting position, and the problems went away. Now they say most of it was just hysteria? Come on. Did they even possibly consider the fact that all of the expenditures to improve ergonomics and awareness over the past several years may have paid off a little? Most keyboards at least have a wrist rest now. People have modified their posture and typing position. People have started doing stretching exercises. I believe all of this at least contributed to the reduction of reported CTS incidents.

No, I think that was one of the lamest studies I've seen -- either that, or the article was not thorough. In order to make it a valid study, you'd have to put in some controls. Namely, you'd need a 80's style environment where people sit in poorly adjusted chairs with keyboard set up too high and tilted the wrong way. Study this for several years with the same people, and see how many CTS reports there are.

Although when I've responded to this the post was labeled troll, it expresses exactly the point I was about to say. MS might be evil (that's very much a matter of opinion), Naziism was almost certainly evil for what it did, Co$ the same for what they do, but they consist entirely of people who are neither good nor evil. They are people.
Just keep that in mind, people are never evil. EVER. they might be totally psychotic, but not evil. An organization can be evil; the people involved are not evil, simply probably psychotic ^_^.
Just my $.02... Hmm, he was probably trolled though because of the whole MS fuddery ^_^

I wasn't that impressed with the OLEDs - many of the LCD displays outperformed them, and seem to have fewer lifespan issues
Of course Organic LEDs have short lifespans. There's only how long an array of fireflies will live...

I've been hearing about all this e-ink stuff for a while, and recall the actual manufacturing process dosn't take much more money per square foot than paper. That is great, because I would love to have a Wall-Wide High Definition TV for my room, but I was more interested in the technology.With those little microcapsules, I would imagine it quite easy to get over the obsticles to plastering them all over everything. From what Ive heard, its a one way display, but I was thinkin that millions of tiny mirrors or something mixed in with the E-Ink would provide a stable color. Just think about it - turning your car into some visualization for Winamp, or dying your hair with microcapsules. The ladies would be happy with easily changable color-nailpaint and makeup, maybe even have them tatood into you for turning your skin colors. I could spend all day thinking of little things like this.. please stop me

I guess its only safe to assume that it will take just as long for OLEDs to be refined as it did with the active-matrix LCD display.. Its only been in the last couple years that the TFT has become easy enough to manufacture that it could be viably incorporated into the majority of notebooks in lieu of the god-awful DSTN (I call them "Ghost") screens.
Remember the first iteration of the "flat-panel" monitor? Those god-awful Gas/Plasma pinkish-orange beasts? That was what.. 15-20 years ago? And look where we are now...